Sunday, August 22, 2010

What followed was a barrage of slickly produced ads and oppo hits that blasted and mocked Hayworth for everything from his comments on the president’s citizenship to his role as a pitchman in a shady infomercial to his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

McCain has repeatedly dismissed claims that he’s shifted his positions for political purposes, and has even taken shots at the media — which he once joked was “my base” — for pushing a narrative about his reconstituted views being based on cold political calculus.

It’s true that McCain didn’t launch his career as a consensus-building moderate, but rather grew into it as he eyed the White House. Before teaming up with Sen. Joe Lieberman on a bill to cap carbon emissions and supporting funding for embryonic stem cell research, he compiled a reliably conservative record as a House member during the Reagan administration.

“McCain has gone right, left, right,” said Arizona GOP consultant Jason Rose, a former aide to Hayworth. “It has undoubtedly hurt his national reputation...Do I think he will maintain this profile throughout the next six years? I don’t. Because I don’t think that’s his core,” said Rose. “He’s right of center but he’s more enamored with being a centrist Republican.”

In essence, that’s Hayworth’s closing argument: that McCain will revert to his old ways once the election returns are finalized Tuesday.

“If he were to have retired, he would’ve been a respected statesman. Now we all view him as a desperate political shape-shifter,” said Hayworth.